Speaker：
Tao XI
Time：
2026.06.03 16:00-17:30
Venue：
Zhiyuan College(Kuang Piu Building)Lecture Hall, 1st floor
Abstract：
Art and science — seemingly belonging to the opposing poles of emotion and reason — have nevertheless been entangled and mutually nourished throughout the evolution of human civilization. This salon will take "creative graphic design" as a starting point, guiding the audience across the boundaries between art and science, exploring how to activate artistic creativity with scientific logic, and how to enhance the warmth and effectiveness of science communication with artistic sensibility.
Starting from "the science within art": outstanding graphic design is not purely intuitive expression — the emotional recognition of color, the visual logic of composition, the cognitive decoding of symbols — all these conceal the brain's perceptual principles and the scientific mechanisms of information processing. Through lenses such as embodied cognition, eye‑tracking, and Gestalt psychology, we can decode the scientific mechanisms behind "beauty" and transform design from "inspiration‑driven" into an innovative methodology that is "explainable and optimizable."
Then moving toward "the art within science": in an era where artificial intelligence, big data, and complex systems increasingly dominate research paradigms, information visualization, scientific knowledge mapping, and dynamic graphics are not merely tools for presenting results — they are creative acts of discovering patterns, sparking insights, and building consensus. A clear and aesthetically compelling graphic can often convey complex ideas more efficiently and evoke emotional resonance more powerfully than a page of formulas, thereby serving the interdisciplinary communication needs under China's dual national strategies of building a strong cultural country and a strong science and technology country.
I look forward to exploring with all of you: seeing logic within graphics, discovering poetry within logic, and together investigating the infinite possibilities of the fusion between science and art.
Bio：
Dr. Tao XI holds a PhD in Arts. He is a Tenured Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where he also serves as Director of the Institute of Information Design. He was a Research Fellow at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, and has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Alberta (Canada), OCAD University (Canada), and La Trobe University (Australia).
Dr. XI holds multiple leadership roles in academic and professional organizations: Deputy Director of the Cultural Industry Committee of the World Eco-Design Organization; Deputy Director of the Arts Committee of a UN‑accredited Consultative Organization; Executive Director of the Design Education Branch of the China Higher Education Society; Executive Director of the China Industrial Design Association; Vice Chairman of the Education Branch of the China Industrial Design Association; Member of the Intelligent Design and Communication Committee of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Society; and Vice President of the Ethnic Costume Committee of the China Anthropology and Ethnology Society.
He has presided over 12 national‑level research projects, including the Key Project of Art Studies of the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC), a Major Sub‑project of the NSSFC, a Major Sub‑project of a National Special Program, a Humanities and Social Sciences Planning Project of the Ministry of Education, and a Key Special Project of the China Industrial Design Association. He serves as an expert reviewer for several prestigious awards and funding bodies, such as the Philosophy and Social Sciences Award of the Ministry of Education, the NSSFC, the China National Arts Fund, the China Scholarship Council (CSC), the Shanghai Social Sciences and Arts Fund, and the Shanghai Education Evaluation Institute. He is also an editorial board member of several core journals indexed in AMI and CSCD.
Dr. XI has been honored as one of China’s Top Ten Industrial Designers and one of China’s Top Ten Industrial Design Educators. His teaching achievements include a National First‑Class Undergraduate Course, a National Planning Textbook for General Higher Education, a Shanghai Excellent Course Award, and a First Prize of the Shanghai Outstanding Teaching Achievement Award. His design works have been selected for the National Art Exhibition (Design Section) and have received international recognition including the Red Dot Award.
His research focuses on Visual Communication, and Cognition & Information Visualization.